The Fountainhead and the Projection of an Ideal Man

Image:
Leo Nickolls
via
Penguin Random House

2018 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Ayn Rand’s bestselling novelThe Fountainhead. Its themes of independence and integrity — and its protagonist, Howard Roark — continue to resonate with and inspire readers of all ages. In her lecture “The Road to Roark,” available at ARI’s eStore, Shoshana Milgram goes over Ayn Rand’s hand-edited drafts ofThe Fountainheadand shows how Ayn Rand worked to give Howard Roark the consistency and integration that are the core of his character. In creating Roark, Ayn Rand achieved full success in the task she identified as the motive and purpose of her writing: the projection of an ideal man.